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national security contributor fran townsend is a member of the cia and homeland security external advisory board and colonel cedric layton is a member of the staffs. what are the consequences? is the u.s. going to passing the point of no return here? >> it is. the most recent information suggests they're actually preparing to be able to launch these warheads containing sarin gas and other chemical weapons. that's a problem, right? now a military strike could inadvertently trigger the dissemination of such weapons, what you have to do is get the intelligence to interrupt the decision cycle. get between assad and the individual who presses the button to launch that missile. that's a very big ask from the intelligence community and very difficult. that's the positive we're really in. >> the intelligence community which to be honest hasn't really seemed to be at least, you know, totally aaware of everything happening every step of the way here. >> okay, except there's been -- there was a commission that looked at the failures in iraq and strengthened the intelligence community. there are stand
national security contributor fran townsend is a member of the cia and homeland security external advisory board and colonel cedric layton is a member of the staffs. what are the consequences? is the u.s. going to passing the point of no return here? >> it is. the most recent information suggests they're actually preparing to be able to launch these warheads containing sarin gas and other chemical weapons. that's a problem, right? now a military strike could inadvertently trigger the...
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national security contributor, fran townsend, is a member of the cia. cedrick layton member of the joipt staff. what are those consequences? is the u.s. going to passing the point of no return here? >> well, it is, look, the most recent information suggests they're preparing to be able to launch these warheads containing gas and other chemical weapons. that's a problem because now, a military strike could trigger the dissemination of such weapons. what you have to do now is is get the timely tactical intelligence to interrupt the decision cycle. that is get between assad and the individual who presses the button to launch that missile. that's a very ask, very difficult, but now, that's the position we're really in. >> just to be honest, hasn't really seemed to be at least totally aware of everything happening every step of the way here. >> okay, except there was a wmd commission that looked at the failures in iraq and strengthened the committee. there are standards for assessing the credibility of sources. for how an analyst assesses a source and the in
national security contributor, fran townsend, is a member of the cia. cedrick layton member of the joipt staff. what are those consequences? is the u.s. going to passing the point of no return here? >> well, it is, look, the most recent information suggests they're preparing to be able to launch these warheads containing gas and other chemical weapons. that's a problem because now, a military strike could trigger the dissemination of such weapons. what you have to do now is is get the...
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Dec 8, 2012
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"outfront" tonight, national security contributor fran townsend who is on the cia and homeland security external advisory board and noah shachtman. noah, what do we think is going on right now? at what point are they in this process? >> so the assad regime has hundreds of metric tons of the building blocks of sarin. basically two big building blocks. there's isopropanol which is rubbing alcohol and phosphorous compounds. those are kept separately in order to keep things safe. but the assad regime in small, limited quantities appears to have combined those two chemicals to make deadly sarin nerve agent and has loaded them on to aerial bombs. >> if that is true, fran, it's a very provocative thing. is it provocative enough that the u.s. now has to consider action? >> well, you know, the administration has not made it clear. what the president has said is that the use of such weapons would be a red line for the united states and her allies. but it's not clear, short of use, is this preparation, is the mixing of the precursor chemicals enough? as noah can tell you this is a very unstable su
"outfront" tonight, national security contributor fran townsend who is on the cia and homeland security external advisory board and noah shachtman. noah, what do we think is going on right now? at what point are they in this process? >> so the assad regime has hundreds of metric tons of the building blocks of sarin. basically two big building blocks. there's isopropanol which is rubbing alcohol and phosphorous compounds. those are kept separately in order to keep things safe....
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Dec 6, 2012
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we have a picture from former cia operative and contributor bob bayer to show you what the impact of a single shell of gas would be in launched on homs in syria. the large swath of the city that would be affected. it's estimated about 18,000 people would be killed in a day. let's get straight to barbara starr. and barbara, what have you learned tonight? >> well, you know, as tragic and serious as this is for the people of syria, this now has regional implications throughout the middle east. intelligence services from israel, turkey, jordan, lebanon, all the countries surrounding syria are talking with the united states around the clock about this very scenario because if there were to be god forbid a chemical attack, the concern is some could drift across borders. worse even as tragic as that would be, what if the regime collapses, terrorists move in, insurgent groups move in and grab some chemical material. they could take it across the borders into the neighbors countries and have a full fledged crisis in the region. >> there has been talk that assad may try and seek asylum. what a
we have a picture from former cia operative and contributor bob bayer to show you what the impact of a single shell of gas would be in launched on homs in syria. the large swath of the city that would be affected. it's estimated about 18,000 people would be killed in a day. let's get straight to barbara starr. and barbara, what have you learned tonight? >> well, you know, as tragic and serious as this is for the people of syria, this now has regional implications throughout the middle...
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Dec 13, 2012
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and then there's a question of cia. the big question is whether john brennan, currently the director of homeland security want that job. it's his if he wants it. the question is, does he? otherwise director morell could get it. the president could perhaps make all of these announcements next week. >> stand by just for a moment. jill dougherty is our state correspondent. it looks potentially like john kerry could be the man that you'll be covering in the weeks and months to come, john kerry, chairman of the foreign relations committee, democratic presidential nominee back in 2004. what are you hearing? >> well, obviously now that susan rice is out of the picture, it would be very logical to turn to him. he is well known for international affairs. every type of issue he seems to have a statement ready within seconds. he's a heavyweight. he knows all of the issues. he wouldn't have the difficulty, it would appear, in the senate for being confirmed with that post as susan rice would have. and it also clears the way now for
and then there's a question of cia. the big question is whether john brennan, currently the director of homeland security want that job. it's his if he wants it. the question is, does he? otherwise director morell could get it. the president could perhaps make all of these announcements next week. >> stand by just for a moment. jill dougherty is our state correspondent. it looks potentially like john kerry could be the man that you'll be covering in the weeks and months to come, john...
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Dec 12, 2012
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so there are some republicans who might challenge him. >> the cia director, too. so i wouldn't necessarily rule that out. >> there is. >> and what about susan rice? >> that is, of course, the big question. my sources say, the president is still very close to her. a huge susan rice fan, as someone said to me. but this source also said the longer she hangs out there the harder it is. of course, last week was not a great week for her. as you recall, she went to the hill to try to asage republican concerns and mf them came out of that lessen thenthusiast. the president is the one who makes these decisions and he's a huge fan of susan rice. >> well, we'll see what he does. >> and don't forget, in the top four cabinet posts, susan rice is a woman. and i think there's a real sense of diversity in that they'dke to see a woman in one of the top four jobs. >> there should be a woman in the top four jobs. >> secretary of state is a woman. so we'll see about that. >> thank you very much. >>> now arrested, we have details of the surprising charges and a shocking past. .4 [ wom
so there are some republicans who might challenge him. >> the cia director, too. so i wouldn't necessarily rule that out. >> there is. >> and what about susan rice? >> that is, of course, the big question. my sources say, the president is still very close to her. a huge susan rice fan, as someone said to me. but this source also said the longer she hangs out there the harder it is. of course, last week was not a great week for her. as you recall, she went to the hill to...
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Dec 6, 2012
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now, last night, a former cia officer, robert bear, was speaking to anderson cooper. he described what the use of sarin could do. here's more of what he had to say. >> one round and the dispersion on that could be -- depends on the wind -- but you could take out, let's say a city like homs, you could take out a third of the city in the first couple of hours. anderson, this is a highly toxic liquid. it's a persistent agent. it's absolutely completely deadly. >> reporter: now, we've heard repeatedly from u.s. administration officials, u.s. president barack obama, u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton that the use of chemical weapons in syria was a red line for which syria and the bashar al assad regime would face severe consequences if they ever did cross that red line and utilize chemical weapons against the people of syria. >> and we have no idea what those severe consequences would be, right? >> reporter: that's right, we don't. you know, people speculate that this would mean some type of military intervention, but we also know that a lot of world powers have not w
now, last night, a former cia officer, robert bear, was speaking to anderson cooper. he described what the use of sarin could do. here's more of what he had to say. >> one round and the dispersion on that could be -- depends on the wind -- but you could take out, let's say a city like homs, you could take out a third of the city in the first couple of hours. anderson, this is a highly toxic liquid. it's a persistent agent. it's absolutely completely deadly. >> reporter: now, we've...